monasqueen

Anyone know a good dentist?

I'm pretty sure that one of the "selling points" of Manxman was that she is faster than Ben From The Steam Packet website, Ben "Service speed: 19 knots", Manxman "Service speed: 19.25 knots". Not a lot in it, but.... Manxman vibrates furiously at anything over 17 knots. Hence she cannot complete a crossing in much less that 4 hours. Will/can anything be done???

The lack of any information is not at all helpful. Today, for example, the overnight sailing from Heysham to Douglas left at 02.00, and arrived at 06.36. No apparent excuse for it to take over 4 1/2 hours. The 08.00 departure from Douglas was still loading at 08.50, and her ramp was just starting to go up at 08.56. She does not seem likely to get to Heysham in time for the train. Will they tell anyone?

The train is supposed to be a connection with the boat. I've seen a bus being used for passengers going to Lancaster when Manxman has failed to get in on time. Last time we travelled, again the ship missed the train, foot passengers wanting to get to Lancaster were paged as we entered the harbour - no doubt well after most had already made their own arrangements for taxis. I don't know what was done for them. Go to reception first, before you arrange your own taxi.

The vibration is worse when they try to go at a speed that would get them from one side to the other in less than 4 hours. One of the captains has learned to tweak the handles ever so slightly until he gets to the maximum he can do without huge vibration. The ship can then do up to 18 knots. Most times, she does not get pushed beyond 16 to 17 knots, so most crossings are at least 4 hours. Ben was scheduled for 3 3/4 hours, and she actually made it within that time. She occasionally managed nearer 3 1/2 hours. If that vibration problem cannot be fixed, Manxman will not only consistently fail to keep to schedule, but she will also be unable to make occasional trips to Liverpool without considerable knock back to later trips. Wasn't this ship supposed to be faster than Ben??? And potentially able to do 2 round trips to Liverpool in a day??? When I go across on a trip, I am heading somewhere, sometimes with a time limit. I have become used to allowing 24 hours recovery margin, but am having to consider whether I now need to allow 48 hours, and pay for an additional night in a hotel on the way. Coming back over, I am coming home, and I want to get home. It seems you now need to think in terms of "this year, next year, sometime, never." Something also needs to be done about the excessive time that it takes to load and unload. And she's cancelling trips when the shipping forecast is giving no more that force 7. Oh, and those toilets... I've never seen both cubicles operational in the Ladies', but the dead tap in the Gents' has now been replaced. Bring back the old ships.

Can somebody explain why it is that you can see Wendy Ann at the back of the ship, pushing hard to keep her against the wall. What's this shelter you're talking about?

Yes, the Lady was not so good after her refit. That Dublin trip sounds like a trip I heard about, with Eddie Fargher driving. He spent ages fighting the wind, and making no way against it at all, after which he felt he had no option but to "Go home".

Is this the one where they translate the instruction book, and reboot all the electronics?

You don't expect a pilot to get on board at full speed, do you?😟

I sometimes wonder whether the people who design, and fit out, modern ships actually travel by ship, and whether they have experienced a bit of wind out at sea. The safety video on this one seems to suggest that if evacuation is necessary, everyone will need to slide down the slippery slope of the MES (Marine Evacuation System), and into rubber floatation devices. Nice.

Did I hear that correctly? "It's the 3rd of June"

Granted, Ringaskiddy is a little out of the way, but the Ferry Boat Inn is not too far away, and welcoming. Probably not much further than the Duke of Rothesay is to Heysham Port. What makes Ringaskiddy is the added quality of the air, which allegedly keeps all the locals happy - there's a Viagra factory just down the road! 🤩

Lisbon trams are 900mm gauge - a vey small fraction less than 3 ft. Do you not recall that a Lisbon tram was bought for the MER a number of years back? The bodywork was a bit too wide, and it would not go round some of the MER's bends, so the body became a waiting room, and the rest was kept for spares.

Going back many years, it was quite normal for people to be "promoted into incompetence". This was particularly noticeable where people who were promoted had to be moved to a different town - move the problem away from you. This sometimes backfired when the receiving office operated the same system, and the problem person was again promoted, and was moved back to the original office! Ouch! Fortunately, this sort of thing is not so easy to achieve on the Island!

Examples can be seen at: https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/23757028.a36-failed-electric-car-caused-nine-hours-disruption/ https://abc7chicago.com/tesla-y-model-stuck-in-car-hot-battery/13582249/ Good adverts for electric cars.

Once a week bin collection. Sorry, I'm not in Douglas, and my authority does a weekly bin collection, so nothing doing.

What are you offering as an inducement?

Really? I've seen a photo of him working on 22 July. If he did retire, he didn't get to enjoy his retirement.

Come off it. 10 minutes from the Packet berth to Lime Street??? Are you a race walker? Try it with luggage, too.

The Liverpool Arms should be a gold mine as a pub/restaurant. It is well positioned on a major road, and is visible for a long distance. It just needed decent management. It is well served by public transport, and the MER tram stop is not far away, so not totally dependant on cars. The excuse about inadequate toilets is total bollox, and would not need a huge expense to overcome. Most other pubs have had to deal with this over the years. The one thing that did work against the pub was the catering. The cook was not up to the job, and the last time we went in there, we vowed not to go again until there had been a substantial change. Well, there was a substantial change - the place shut, so we can't go back. It's just another of those properties that are being deliberately allowed to deteriorate to the point where they will have to be demolished, then, lo and behold, a new housing estate can be built in their place.

Don't count on it this winter. Try finding winter Liverpool sailings in the on line timetable.

The furniture always seems to be chosen by people who are regulars in onshore cafes, but never venture out to sea. Those bar tables with cafe style seats, for instance. Where will those go when there's a bit of weather? John W, have they had/got/still got those in the Galicia, Salamanca, and Santona?

Passengers' cars in advance? (The old steam ships used to have spaces for xxx head of cattle or xx passengers.)

Give it a rest. The posts under this topic stopped being relevant to its title pages ago, and it's just proving the point that nobody cares about anything other than themselves. Can you all please get back to having serious and constructive conversations about topics that people care about?

On another forum that I tune into from time to time, someone mentioned this forum, which brought the response "The quote from Manx Forums reminds me why I left the vile platform ten years ago." Sometimes (perhaps too often) arguments get very bitter and twisted, and there is not much tolerance on either side. It's no real wonder that the people who are still frequent contributors do have a tendency to be just a little negative at times.